


Irises and Gladiolus Flowers

by mspreciperry



Series: Old LiveJournal Fics [1]
Category: Avenged Sevenfold, Good Charlotte, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, Car Accidents, Childhood Trauma, M/M, Mpreg, Past Character Death, Primary School
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-25
Updated: 2016-10-25
Packaged: 2018-08-24 15:37:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8377675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mspreciperry/pseuds/mspreciperry
Summary: Benji Madden is a primary school teacher who looks after troubled sixth graders, and helps his twin brother raise his kid. First day back from winter break, he gets a new student who turns his whole freaking world upside down.
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Story resurrected from my old LiveJournal account, now with 90% more spelling and grammar accuracies, 40% less OOC-ness, and a few character changes.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a shitty story I wrote when I was literally 14, about 12 years ago. Take from that what you will. My old LJ got purged, and I found all my old fics on a USB so I decided to clean them up and repost them on here. I know mpreg is a bit of a touchy subject, but hey, it was super trendy in 2004. Sue me. I also changed out the principal from a really shitty OC to Bob Bryar, because why not?

**Part One: New Faces**

The first day back to school after the winter break goes exactly the same for Benji as any other morning does. His first alarm goes off at seven, the second one at ten past, the third at twenty past, and so on until Joel tips him out of bed with a sweet smile and a huge mug of coffee. “Up and at ‘em, Benjamin, you’ve got children to teach!”

“I hate you,” Benji grumbles into his coffee as his twin leaves his room again.

Joel’s laughter is audible from the kitchen. “No you don’t! Especially when I made you back to school pancakes!”

Benji shuffles into the kitchen after that, stomach growling at him. He’s greeted by a plate of steaming pancakes and sticky little fingers handing him the maple syrup, courtesy of Cathal, who’s blinking sleepily in the early morning. “‘Lo, Uncle Benji,” the little boy slurs, eating his breakfast with his fingers.

“Morning, Hal,” Benji croaks back, coughing a bit before downing the last of his coffee. “Come on, use your fork or your papa will make you wash before school.” His nephew makes a face and hastily grabs some cutlery while Joel giggles from behind his frypan. “Good boy,” Benji says with a wink, picking his own fork up and cutting his food into small squares. It’s delicious, as usual, with pancakes being one of the only things Joel can successfully cook without supervision.

Once the three of them have finished eating, Joel shoos his small son off to get dressed and hands Benji another cup of coffee with the same instruction. “So, what have you got planned for the kids today, oh great sixth grade teacher?” He starts clearing the table and pulling things out of the fridge for Cathal’s lunch. “Oh, that reminds me, can you find him at lunch and makes sure he actually eats his sandwich, please?”

Benji laughs, pulling a clean shirt out of the basked of laundry he and Joel slaved over the night before. “Yes, I’m sure every third grader wants their uncle dropping in on them while they’re hanging out with their friends.”

“Fuck off,” Joel snorts, throwing a packet of crisps in with the sandwich and juice box. “I’m going to spend the day in the garden and make sure my flowers are still alive after the snow got its grubby little hands all over them.”

“I’m going to bring Gerard in for a few hours and work out some post-holiday jitters with arts and crafts,” Benji counters, holding two ties against his shirt for Joel to pick the one that matches the best. “Probably start a new project for them or something. Math.”

Joel wrinkles his nose, pointing at the black tie with the flames on it. “Ew, math. I’m glad Hal inherited your brain for it instead of mine.”

“Papa, help,” Cathal suddenly pipes up, running into the room with his tiny Converse laces all tangled. “They mated,” he says sullenly, holding the shoes up to Joel with a pout.

Joel untangles the laces with a fond smile while Benji finishes dressing himself and gathering all his bits and pieces together, and then they both make sure that Cathal has his backpack, lunch box, and that his clothes are at least slightly clean before Benji scoops is nephew up into his arms. “Alrighty, kiss goodbye for Papa, and then we’re off and he can go get all gross and dirty.”

“Bye, Papa,” Cathal bleats obediently, leaning over in Benji’s arms to kiss Joel’s cheek.

Joel kisses his son’s forehead and then Benji’s, giggling at the offended look on his twin’s face. “Bye, baby, see you after school. Be good for your teachers, please.” He swoops in for another kiss on Cathal’s cheek. “And you be good too, Benjamin,” he jokes, passing over Benji’s travel mug before he forgets it.

And thus, as he loads his nephew into his car and sets off for the local primary school, Benji’s day continues to look like it will be the same as any other day.

Until the principal shows up in his classroom half an hour before the bell rings and informs him he’s getting a new student. “Stop staring at me like that, Madden,” Mr Bryar sighs, rolling his eyes. “You have the smallest class in the sixth grade, and I needed to put the kid somewhere.” His face gets a little serious. “Besides, he’s in need of your special assistance, if you understand me.”

Benji does understand, but that doesn’t mean he’s happy about having a new student at such short notice. “Who enrols their kids at school in the middle of the year?” Benji whines, shuffling his papers on his desk and trying to mentally fit a new child into is seating plan.

“People who move to new towns, generally,” Mr Bryar explains condescendingly, clapping Benji on the shoulder jovially. “Here’s the file. There’s really not much to know, really. You’ll be getting Faith Haner, and his younger sister Bryony is going into your nephew’s class, I believe. Single parent, William Haner, they moved here from Huntington Beach.”

Benji balks. “That’s in fucking _California_!”

“Language, Madden,” Mr Bryar scolds him with a laugh. “Yes, I’m aware that Huntington Beach is in California, I took geography in high school.” He shakes his head. “From the brief meeting I had with Mr Haner – who, by the way, looks like a gust of wind would bowl him over – they moved here for personal reasons. He was very skittish.”

Nodding, Benji takes the folder, planning to look through it on his last few minutes before his students show up. “Thanks, Bob. See you at the staff meeting this afternoon?”

With a nod, Mr Bryar leaves the classroom. Benji sits down at his desk and flips the file open, reading over the little information provided to him about Faith Haner. In the back of his mind, he thinks that Faith is a strange name for a boy, but then, there are only about four people who can pronounce his nephew’s name, so he has no room to judge. Reading over the grades and reports about the boy, Benji frowns, pursing his lips with the nagging suspicion that something has been edited out of the file. It mentions that the young boy had been recently diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and was in the process of being diagnosed with clinical depression, but gave no indicators as to why, which makes Benji uncomfortable. He can’t help his students if he has no insight into what their problems are.

Just as he gets to the end of the file, the bell rings, signalling that it’s nine o’clock, and his little twelve year old students start racing into the classroom, greeting him with enthusiastic hi-fives and loud cries of, “Good morning, Mr Madden!” before they run to their seats from the previous term.

A few parents come in with their kids to say hello too, and Benji is so busy trying to fend off the advances of Mona Simms’ mother he almost misses when an unfamiliar little boy creeps quietly inside the classroom. “Excuse me, Juliet, I have to go and greet a new student,” he says to the overbearing woman, side-stepping her and approaching the boy. “Hi there,” he says softly, crouching down slightly. “Are you Faith Haner?”

The little boy really is little, for a twelve year old. He barely reaches Benji’s hip, and Benji isn’t the tallest of men. Dressed in all-black, he has chin-length feathery black hair, and soft olive skin. When he glances up at Benji, seemingly startled, his eyes are a clear, vivid blue. He nods shortly, nibbling on his bottom lip nervously.

“Hi, Faith. I’m Mr Madden, I’m going to be your teacher this year.”

“H-hello, Mr Madden,” Faith stutters out, shuffling his feet awkwardly. “Where… where do I sit?”

Benji stands and puts a hand on the boy’s shoulder to direct him to the only available seat in the classroom. He doesn’t really like to have his students at the desks, instead preferring them all to sit on the floor with him – it’s easier to keep an eye on their moods like that. “Here we go, Faith. This is your desk. You’re on the end of the row, and you have Fender Thomas on your other side. He’s really nice, okay?”

Faith nods silently, and tentatively sits his bag down on the desk.

“Did your dad drop you off here, Faith?” Benji asks, liking to be on friendly terms with the parents of his students. When Faith nods again, he continues, “Do you know if he’s still here?”

“Um, he had to take my sister to her classroom, so I think so…” Faith whispers.

Benji thanks the boy and turns back to his desk. His feelings about the file from earlier are coming back. He wonders what could have happened for a boy so young to be diagnosed with such severe trauma-related disorders. Still pondering this, Benji claps his hands to get the attention of the kids in the room. “Hey guys, I just have to run down to the junior classrooms for a few minutes, can you all behave until I get back?”

He’s met with a loud chorus of, “Yes, Mr Madden!” and he smiles at his kids before leaving the room. Benji doesn’t go down to the junior classrooms very often unless he’s checking up on Cathal, so he doesn’t get stopped by many parents because he hasn’t taught their kids yet. Cathal’s class is taught by Benji’s friend Zacky, so he just waltzes right in and up to the teacher’s desk.

Before he can say anything, there’s an excited cry of, “Uncle Benji!” and he’s suddenly got his nephew stuck to his leg. “Guess what? I’ve got a new friend!” Cathal babbles excitedly.

“Hey, Hal, that’s great,” Benji says, slightly dismissively. “How about you tell me all about it when we get home, okay? I gotta talk to Mr Baker real quick, okay?”

“Okay!” his nephew exclaims happily, hugging his leg tightly for a second before sprinting off again.

There’s a giggle from the desk, and Benji looks up to see Zacky sitting cross-legged on his desk, grinning at Benji brightly. “Morning, Zacky,” Benji says, making a face at his friend.

“Hi, Benji,” Zacky replies, green eyes still lit up with laughter. “What can I do for you this fine morning?”

Benji moves a little closer, leaning in to ask, “You’ve got Bryony Haner in this class right?” Zacky hums out a ‘yes’. “Great. Is her father still here? I’ve got her older brother in my class, and I wanted to meet Mr Haner before he comes to get them at the end of the day.”

Tilting his head and surveying the room, Zacky points to a corner of the room. “Yeah, he’s over there with Bry, making sure she’s alright for the day.”

“Thanks, Z,” Benji murmurs, heading towards the man and his daughter. “Excuse me, William Haner?” he asks quietly, not wanting to startle either the man or his daughter.

The man looks up, and Benji is struck with a sudden bolt of recognition. “Billy?” he whispers, shocked. “Billy Martin, is that you?”

“ _Benji Combs_?” Billy’s voice cracks slightly on the syllables of Benji’s name, the way it always used to when they were kids, and Benji has to fight off the urge to throw his arms around his childhood friend. “Oh my god, Benji!”

Billy looks almost exactly how Benji remembers him the day his mother packed up all their belongings and left Annapolis in Benji’s Senior year and Billy’s Sophomore. He’s still tall and waif-like, long-fingered hands looking out of place on his bird-bone wrists. His face has more definition than Benji remembers, and he’s finally grown into the awkward curves that had made him so gangly in his youth. Benji swallows as he meets Billy’s eyes. He’s still as tragically beautiful as Benji remembers.

“Billy!” Benji says again, not able to think of something slightly more intelligent, and they both break into quiet laughter.

“What are you doing here?” Billy asks.

“Oh!” Benji almost face-palms himself. “That’s why I came over. I’m one of the sixth grade teachers – your son is in my class!”

Saying that, and finally noticing the little girl clinging to Billy’s arm, Benji suddenly realises that the boy he’d loved as a child now has children of his own, and probably a spouse to go with said children, if he’s now William Haner. A bizarre burst of teenaged jealousy flares up in Benji. Sneaking a glance, Benji notes that Billy isn’t wearing a ring, and then he remembers Mr Bryar mentioning that he is a single parent. Benji’s heart goes out to the man – he’s seen firsthand how hard raising a child on your own is.

Billy’s shoulders suddenly relax slightly. “Oh good!” he exclaims. “I was going to stop in this morning, but I had to get Bryony down here.” He puts a hand to his chest like he’d been really nervous about leaving his elder child on his own. “I feel so much better knowing he’s with someone like you.” The same sadness Benji had seen in Faith is hanging around Billy too. “I have to go for a job interview, but is it okay if I come in at the end of the day to talk to you about a few things?”

“Absolutely,” Benji says earnestly. “Just come into the classroom a few minutes before the bell rings, and we can go into the break out room.”

“I look forward to it,” Billy says with a smile. Just as he’s about to leave, he pauses, and then reaches up and puts his arms around Benji, who instantly returns the hug. “It’s good to see you again, Benji,” he breathes, and his voice hitches.

“You too, Billy.”

Billy breaks the hug and leaves with a wave to Benji, a kiss to his daughter’s forehead, and a quick word to Zacky. Benji also waves to Zacky, and makes his way back to his own classroom, where his kids are catching each other up on their holiday activities. He automatically looks to where Faith is huddled at his desk, drawing in a notebook. Now that Benji knows, he can see Billy all through the little boy, in his hands and eyes and the shape of his face. The wave of jealousy comes back, and Benji wants to know which fucker could possibly have left a beautiful soul like Billy on his own with two children.

Fender Thomas is at his desk too, chair turned towards Faith, and he’s clearly attempting to get to know the painfully shy boy. Benji walks over to them and taps on Fender’s desk. “Hey, Fender. Could you look after Faith today? Make sure he can find his way around and stuff?”

“Sure thing, Mr Madden,” Fender chirps happily, his grin so much like Paul’s that Benji almost laughs. His friends have the cutest kids. Almost makes him want one of his own.

Benji’s day then continues on fairly smoothly until lunch time, when it rains. This means that the kids are stuck inside, and they get crumbs all over the floor. After running them all through the wet lunch rules, Benji leaves them to his own devices and sits at his desk with his updated lesson plan for this term, trying to come up with some fun projects he can do with the kids that fit in with the curriculum. His phone dings with a message from Gerard, letting him know that the art teacher is all ready for Benji’s class after lunch, and Benji ticks that off his list of things to worry about for the day.

It’s all perfectly calm until there’s a small scream, followed by the sound of a child trying desperately to muffle their cries. Benji’s head snaps up and he surveys the room in a mild panic trying to spot the source of the distressing noises. It’s Faith, curled up on the mat with Fender and a few other kids who are playing with the toy trucks.

Benji rushes to the boy’s side and kneels down beside him, shooing away the other children who are watching like spectators at a sports event. “Faith, are you okay?” he asks the boy, who shakes his head rapidly, burying his face in his bent knees to muffle his sobs further. “Are you having a panic attack?” This gets him a small nod, and Benji puts his hands under the boy’s arms and hauls him up, carrying him out into the break out room.

Benji’s classroom is the only one in the school with the small extra room off to the side, because Benji’s class is a little different from the others. He takes a small class of sixth graders every year who need slightly more attention than the rest of their peers, be it academic attention or emotional attention. He had a degree in child psychology, and a natural empathy for the children, plus his own worldly experiences.

“Alright, Faith, you’re in a safe place now,” he gently explains to the still crying boy as he sits him down on the plush beanbag in the corner of the room. “I’m going to hand you some tissues and sit in the chair over there, okay? I’ll wait as long as you need to calm down, and then you can tell me what’s wrong if you’re comfortable doing that. You don’t have to, but I’d like it if you did.” He’s found, over the year, that being honest with the kids and letting them make the decisions worked better in the long run.

Faith nods minutely, and takes the tissue box in his tiny hands. Five minutes later and he’s stopped shaking, only hiccoughing occasionally. “I’m ‘kay now, Mr Madden,” he whispers, holding the tissues back to Benji, who puts them away on the small shelf. “Thank you.”

“That’s okay, Faith,” Benji replies. He notices that the boy has started to blush, frowning in annoyance down at his clasped hands. “Faith, there’s no need to be embarrassed about what’s just happened. I can tell you that every single person in this class, including me, has had at least one panic attack in this room.”

Faith relaxes just a little.

“Do you feel comfortable telling me what happened?” Benji asks gently. A head shake ‘no’. “That’s okay. Is there anything you need?” Faith mumbles something Benji doesn’t catch. “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

“Can I go see my sister?” Faith says, slightly loudly, eyes wide and face clearly displaying that he’s afraid Benji won’t let him.

“Of course,” Benji tells him. “We’ve still got a few minutes of lunch left.”

Together, after Benji had grabbed the TA from the class next door to watch his kids, Benji and Faith head down to Zacky’s classroom again. “Hello again, Zacky,” Benji greets his friend after knocking on the door and beckoning the teacher over. “Can we borrow Bryony for a few minutes? Faith wants to check on her.”

“Sure thing,” Zacky says, and he calls for the little girl over his shoulder.

Bryony Haner looks even more like Billy than Faith does, her soft brown hair the same as Billy’s natural colour, pulled into two Wednesday Addams’ styled plaits. The only difference between the little girl and her father is her eyes, which are a deep, intelligent hazel that almost look out of place on such a young child. “Faithy!” she squeaks excitedly when she spots her brother, and she throws herself into his arms, her red shirt and white shorts contrasting with Faith’s all black wardrobe. “You came see me!”

Benji doesn’t miss how tightly Faith is hugging his sister, like he’s afraid she’s going to be taken away from him. “Course I did, stupid,” Faith mutters. “Had to make sure you weren’t alone.”

Standing off to the side, Benji lets the two siblings talk until the bell rings, and then he takes Faith back to the classroom. “Come on, we’re not doing any more real work today, we’re going over to the art rooms.” Faith’s eyes light up at that, and Benji guesses that he must have inherited Billy’s love of drawing and painting. “I thought you might like the sound of that,” he laughs brightly. “Come on.”

Gerard is waiting for them in the art rooms when Benji ushers his class inside, perched on his desk like a brightly coloured, paint-splattered parrot, waving his coffee mug at them in greeting. “Good afternoon, children!” he exclaims.

“Good afternoon, Gerard!” the kids all chant back. Gerard is the only teacher in the school who is allowed to go by his first name, seemingly for no reason other than he’s Mr Bryar’s favourite.

“Alright, I’ll leave them with you for a while, Gerard,” Benji tells the art teacher, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I’ve got some people I need to see before the meeting tonight. Try not to get them too painty, please, their parents don’t like it.” He grins as the kids all start complaining, because everyone knows that twelve year olds love being covered in paint.

Gerard giggles. “No promises!”

Benji wastes forty five minutes talking to the head janitor before booking it back to his classroom seconds before Billy shows up, looking pale and exhausted and like he really needs a cup of coffee and a long hug. Both of which Benji would be happy to provide. “Hey, Billy!” he calls, getting the man’s attention. Billy smiles at Benji, coming inside with careful steps, the way he always used to in high school. “Is it okay to ask how your interview went?”

Flapping his hand, Billy sits down in the chair Benji offers him. “It went fine, I think. I took a portfolio into the local tattoo parlour-” Benji makes a surprised noise and Billy smiles again. “I know, right? I got my license three years ago? That shitty stick-and-poke I did on you in my Freshman year turned into a whole career!”

“Hey, I love that shitty tattoo,” Benji laughs, pulling the cuff of his short sleeve up to show off the slightly wonky cross inked there. “Only one I never got inked over.”

Billy looks touched, the tops of his cheeks flushing pink as he ducks his head, smiling softly. “Well.” A small giggle bubbles out of his lips. “Anyway.”

“Oh yes, you wanted to talk with me about some things?” Benji switches back into teacher mode, trying to quash down all his resurging teenaged emotions for the man across from him.

Nodding a little hesitantly, Billy shuffles in his seat. “Yes. Just about, uh, Faith’s… condition?” he seems hesitant with the words. “I know his file said he’d been diagnosed with PTSD, but it’s not just that.” He looks up, right into Benji’s eyes, and Benji is nearly floored by the pain and sadness in the blue depths of those eyes. “Look, Faith was in a car crash last month. A severe one. There were casualties. He has trouble sleeping, he’s paranoid, and he’s got pretty bad separation anxiety. He’s taking medication, but…”

“I get it,” Benji says quietly, reaching out and grabbing Billy’s flailing hand. Billy looks like he’s about to burst into tears, and Benji has a horrible ache in his stomach for the shy little boy who is now part of his class. “I really, really do, Billy. He’ll be fine in my class, I promise I’ll look out for him.” He sighs. “Faith did have a small panic attack at lunch today, some of the other boys were playing with toy trucks which I guess must have set him off, but he was okay after a few minutes.”

Billy nods his head wordlessly, fingers clutching to Benji’s as he puts his other hand over his face for a second. “Sorry. It’s just hard to think about, you know?”

Benji decides to change the subject, if only to get that horrible look off Billy’s pretty face. “Hey, do you want to come to dinner at mine some time, once you’re settled in? I’m sure Joel would be ecstatic to see you again.”

That makes Billy’s face light up again. “Absolutely!” he says happily, still holding on to Benji’s hand. “I’d really like that. It feels like you guys are the only people I still know in this town…”

The rest of their conversation is cut off by a knock on the door, and Benji looks up to see Gerard there with all of Benji’s kids milling around behind him. “Hey, sorry to interrupt. I thought I should bring them back before the final bell rang.”

“Thanks, Gerard,” Benji mumbles, reluctantly pulling away from Billy and standing up. “You’re welcome to wait in the room for the last few minutes of the day,” he says to Billy as the kids start filing in. “I just have to mark them off for the day.”

“Sure,” Billy says, giving Faith a small wave as the boy walks in with Fender, the two of them bent over a piece of paper and talking excitedly. It’s the first genuine expression Benji has seen on the boy’s face all day, and it only heightens when Faith spots his father. He almost runs over, handing the paper to Billy with wide eyes. “Did you draw this, Faithy?” Billy asks happily, tilting the paper so Benji can see the beautiful bouquet of pink and purple flowers carefully drawn and coloured with chalk pastels. “They’re amazing!”

“Thank you, Mausi,” Faith says, a tiny grin breaking out on his face.

“Faith, these are really beautiful,” Benji murmurs, reaching out and touching his fingers to the tips of the page. “Do you mind if I make a copy of this? My brother loves flowers.” Faith looks both happy and humbled by the question as he nods his little head. Benji hands the original copy back to Billy when he’s done, gently tucking the copy in his folder for Joel.

Afterwards, Benji does the roll call for the end of the day, and dismisses his kids with the instruction that tomorrow, they’re going to be starting a new project. He waves Billy goodbye after handing him a scrap of paper with both his home and mobile numbers, and their home address, so they can arrange a date and time for dinner. Then he lingers in his classroom until all his kids have been picked up and Cathal has come sprinting in, jumping up into Benji’s arms and falling asleep almost instantly. Benji carries his nephew to the staffroom, and tucks him onto the couch, leaving him with a colouring book and some pencils before joining the rest of the faculty for their meeting.

Mr Bryar catches him on his way out, asks about his day. “It went well. Faith is gonna do fine with me, I’m sorry I bitched you out about it this morning,” Benji apologises sheepishly.

“When will all you stubborn asses learn that I am always right?” Mr Bryar laughs.

Benji scoops Cathal up again and slings the now-awake child over his back. “Come on, Hal, let’s go home and you can tell me and your Papa all about your new friend. Sound good?”

“Yep!” Cathal giggles. “Uncle Benji, can we get ice-cream too?”

“Sure,” Benji relents, already picturing the faux-disapproving look that Joel will give them both, even if they pick up his favourite flavour. Benji is right, and he smiles serenely at Joel later in the afternoon as he’s putting the tup of mint-chip ice-cream in the freezer. “Hey, stop with the look, it was your child’s idea.”

Joel snorts. “Uh huh, and I guess Cathal paid for it too?” This makes them both laugh, and Joel grabs Benji’s wrist, dragging his twin out into the garden to show off the flowerbeds he’d spent all day tending to. “Check it out, I managed to recover almost all of the roses, and mom’s tulips survived as well.”

“That reminds me!” Benji exclaims. “I got a new student today – and you’ll never guess who his father is!”

Interest piqued, Joel follows Benji back into the kitchen. “Who?”

“Billy Martin!”

Joel’s eyes nearly bug out of his head. “No way! As in, tiny little Billy Martin we were friends with in high school?” He shakes his head. “Fuck off, no way Billy has a kid! Who the hell did he have them with?”

“Two, actually,” Benji corrects, grinning toothily at Joel’s reaction. “He’s got a daughter in Hal’s class.” He flicks the kettle on to make some tea. “I have no idea who his husband or ex or whatever is – he’s changed his name to Billy Haner, so he must have had one at some point, but he’s a single parent at the moment - so I invited him around for dinner once they’re all settled in again.”

Joel’s face gets very pinched at the mention of Billy also being a single parent, but brightens at Benji’s invitation. “Excellent idea!”

Cathal makes his presence in the room known by launching into Joel’s lap and hugging his Papa tightly, already babbling about his day. “Mr Baker is the bestest teacher ever, he let me sit with the new girl and she’s real cute! Her name’s Bryony but she said I could call her Bry, and we’re gonna be best friends forever! And she only got a Papa too, like me an’ you, Papa!” Benji cuts in there to explain that Bryony is Billy’s other child, and Joel nods in understanding. “Yeah, she got an older brother called Faith and he’s real pretty, Papa.” Cathal wiggles excitedly in Joel’s lap, his mismatched eyes glowing brightly with his childish happiness. “Me and Bry are gonna build the hugest sand castle at lunch tomorrow!” he explains, nodding enthusiastically.

“I’m so happy for you, baby,” Joel says to his son, kissing the top of his head. “Now, go and get changed out of your school clothes, and we’ll have dinner out in the garden today because it’s such a nice evening.”

Both twins laugh in amusement when Cathal nearly goes careening into a wall in his haste to get changed. Joel’s dies off first, a tight look in his eyes like he’s thinking about something unpleasant. Benji doesn’t have to guess what. To take his twin’s mind off the uncomfortable subject of Cathal’s father, he pulls his folder across the table and takes the copy of Faith’s drawing out, handing it to Joel. “Here, Faith drew this today, and it reminded me so much of you he let me photocopy it.”

“Oh…” Joel breathes, tracing his fingers over the flowers the same way Benji did. “These are incredible – he definitely got Billy’s artistic skills.”

“Tell me about it,” Benji says.

“Very strange flowers for a child to draw though, although I do remember Billy being quite interested in flower language, so he could have taught Faith.” Joel remarks. At Benji’s inquisitive look, he points to the purple ones. “These ones make sense, I guess – they’re irises. Irises mean ‘faith’ in flower language.” He then points to the pink ones. “But these… these are gladiolus flowers. They’re sometimes called sword lilies.” He tilts his head. “They’re usually used in bouquets to represent strength.”

Benji goes to bed that night thinking about the flowers.

**Author's Note:**

> FYI, Cathal is pronounced 'kah-hal', and is an Irish name that means 'mighty battle'. Anyone remember when the meanings of names were like super important in fic?


End file.
